[Finalist] [24] RROD’s Sears Custom 6

#BuildOff2024

Well folks I’m just addicted to building tractors so I figure I may as well throw my next project here in the buildoff!

Here we have a 60’s Sears custom 6, featuring that very interesting grille you’ve all seen but could never name the model of! From factory this tractor sports a peerless 2300 transaxle, 6hp tecumseh pull start engine, and a rather stocky 33” rear width and 43” wheelbase. Really an oddball model compared to the Suburbans we know and love, and even somewhat odd compared to the somewhat more common Custom 8 and 10xl, which have your normal 4 pinion 633a hi/lo transmission.


Here’s the current proposed powerplant: a brand new predator 301. Original thought was a GX390 but that engine just proved too bulky for the little hood. Even this one will be a squeeze.


Plans for the drivetrain include:
-custom double pulley clutch
-7 to 6 pulley swap (may be changed later)
-fozzy lock for the short term, 1-1/8 or 1-1/4” straight axle long term
-improved brake setup, perhaps hydraulic disc

For the frame i forsee a new front axle mount, some bracing, and maybe tougher transaxle mounts. There will also be an engine cage to hopefully prolong the life of the cast aluminum hood and grille.

The steering is still up in the air, it may be the JD straight axle currently in the 414-8, or i may make something more to my own taste.

Cant wait to beat on this thing!!


Approved by @MightyRaze 20240724

[adm]Welcome to the Build-off!!
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Always loved the noses on these- reminds me of a ‘70 Super Bee.

I agree. It's my favorite grill on a custom.

Definitely doing everything i can to keep that grille in one piece.

Trans was super easy to drop. Only like 5 bolts and pull the brake out of the way.


Welp, this might explain why the trans is all locked up.


With how much water came out of this thing, i was amazed when maybe a half quart of oil came out.


One hub slipped right off with a few taps, no problem.


The other one fought me until the very end. It did come off in one piece at least! The wheel horse hub i yanked on this hard came off in like 10 pieces.


I did get the case split but forgot to get a pic. Its not as bad in there was i was expecting, but its certainly not good. A few needle bearings need replaced for sure. Lot of gears are pretty pitted but not beyond usability. Gears are definitely a good candidate for electrolysis.

I have 3 2300s out of john deeres. I believe I can just swap these axles and axle tubes into one of them and use the rest of it as is. The sears 2300 is kind of odd due to offset mounting, the left axle tube is 6-1/2” long while the right axle tube is 8-3/4” long. As i recall, deere 2300s have two 8-3/4 axle tubes. They also have splined axles and hubs while these just have woodruff key axles.

Grabbed a pic of the rest of the trans this morning. Its better than I expected in some ways and worse in others. Somehow a lot of the needle bearings are in pretty good shape. A lot of other stuff isnt though lol.

That rust and Dirt? Much worse than Kal's was but your shift forks look better.

All rust. The brake shaft was partially seized and one other shaft in there is still completely seized. Shift forks will probably need pressed off the shafts. I couldn’t even move them with a prybar.

Interesting that an 820 and 2300 bullgear are the same with. 820 just has some of the teeth cut off for clearance with another gear.


These trans are very compact without the axles!


Tried the puller on the splined hubs from a JD trans. No dice. Didnt even budge.


Had to break out the last resort. I’ll probably try to press out or bore out the remains of the old axles just to save the hubs for myself or someone else.


Got as far as draining and pulling shifter cup off.


Quite a bit better in there. Still the usual bit of rust just from sitting with humidity in the case.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Definitely doing everything i can to keep that grille in one piece.

So how many rollovers is permissible on this rig?

Well i mean….at least a couple times gotta find those balance points somehow

Old trans is top and right. Newer JD trans is left and bottom. Notice where the needle bearings are in the case there are three oil grooves in the newer trans and only two in the old. Theres a hole in a gear in the old trans that the new one doesnt have. Some differences in the castings themselves, some obvious pattern marks in the old one. The case itself is thicker around where the axle bolts on in the new one. The holes for the shifter shafts in the new one are also nicely chamfered to help alignment during assembly. Overall good improvements over time that improved the trans.


Noticed a difference in the spider gears. Old trans has a finer pitch, newer is more like an 820. These gears are interchangeable between carriers as a complete set. You can also see here that the old trans only used 4 bolts to hold the diff carrier together, while the newer one uses 8 like an 820. The older trans also had needle thrust bearings behind the axle gear while the newer one just has thrust washers like an 820.


Havent done a fozzy in a long time! Making sure to test fit everything and build up the welds to get slop to a minimum. Preheated the gear some and made sure all the welds cooled slowly to minimize stress in the gear. I will be surprised if i dont break this setup on down the line though, but we’ll see. I think by cooling slowly the gears should have most of the temper drawn out and actually be softer than they were, which would probably stop them from cracking. I think these gears are only really hardened for wear resistance, not strength.

Talking with @RichieRichOverdrive last night, there are even more minor differences in the Murray 2300's.  I even found that my 2 transaxles even though just 3 years apart have same differences as well as a couple new.

For instance my gearset side for Dirty Rat is thicker and flat around the axle diff bearing?



Some interesting stuff.

That Murray 2300 is definitely interesting. The sears 2300 has a big step in the case around the carrier bearing, maybe 1/8”, deere probably only has 1/32”. Neither are flush like yours.

I think im currently on my third round of welding on these gears to tune the slop out of the locker. Fozzys are known for slop, i want to avoid as much of that as i can.

Got all the play out of the locker. Figured out you can take the washers from behind the snaprings and put it behind the spider gears and take a lot of the slop out, and then tune the rest with welding. When you pull the diff together it pulls everything perfectly tight, the gears are kind of preloaded. Guess we’ll find out if it’s too much lol.

One of the factory bolts decided it didn’t want to live anymore so i had to replace it with a new grade 8.

Stuck the trans back in. Then realized it had to come back out to put a pulley on it.


Got lucky and found a spindle pulley off a snapper mower deck. 4.75” is a little smaller than i wanted but it’ll be fine i guess.


Did have to put a keyway though it and add a set screw.


Threw the mudlites on just to get it on wheels.



Working on mounting the engine now, even though im gonna tear it apart and do some work to it lol.

General view of the underside


Was trying to trim this steering plate back and it really wasn’t working lol.


Bent up two of these little brackets and bolted them behind the plate


Wound up with something like this


Trimmed the airbox. I’m fighting for every fraction of an inch on this thing.


Right up against the inside of the grille


I think if i get the pulley right against the block i can squeeze a belt thru there


Its pretty packed in there!

Interestingly enough this stock wheel horse trans pulley had the hub brazed into it. Here i’m using a hand ground face grooving tool to thin the material up so i can knock the hub out- dont wanna go all the way through, the piece in the center will come around and break your tool.


Anyway bored the pulley out and made a new hub for it. The last 2” round bar i have is some mystery metal i taxed from a scrap bin somewhere….im thinking it’s either 1045 or annealed 4140. Bad news for welding (remember mutt’s first straight axle?) but I’ll just have to keep an eye out for cracks lol


With the pulley as close to the engine as possible, its looking like ill have enough room to squeeze a belt in there.


I also made a new tie rod so this thing doesnt have to be steel toe steer lol.

I drilled holes to mount the engine down last night. That’ll probably be as much as gets done for the next week or so, headed back up to NY for family reunion. I’ll probably browse eBay for some cheap idler pulleys in the meantime, my stock on idlers is kinda low these days.

Popped the governor gear off the side cover


Pulled the gov shaft out and snipped it and stuck it back in


Pulled the head off and put a layer of play doh on the piston


Put head back on with new gasket and rolled engine over. Seeing about .115” piston to valve clearance. I figured (incorrectly) that .035” valve clearance would be good, so i knocked .08” off the head.


Flycut it on the mill. Gonna hit it with some sandpaper on the precision surface plate just to make sure it’s good and flat.


So after getting this all done, i was informed that i wanted more like .06” PtV clearance, double my .035” guess. Oops. Looks like I’ll be notching the piston

Made this cutter out of a piece of spring wheel rake tooth and a piece of 1/4” square high speed steel toolbit. Rake tooth was about the same diameter as the valves. 5.5mm




This lock collar is my depth stop, just set it with calipers and lock it down.


Turned out kinda half decent. Well, kind of. The cutter was kinda too thick so i just figured id roll the piston down a bit in the bore. Due to the angle of the valves this puts the butterfly cuts i made too close together. So i had to make two more cuts in the right place after thinning the tool, which then broke halfway through the last cut, and i just had to finish the job with a die grinder. Cant win them all i guess  


I have decided it would be in my best interest to get heavier valve springs for this thing. So that’s something else to wait for in the mail. I should be able to work on a belt system though even with the engine not running.

Dressed the head up a bit to clean up any imperfections from my less than ideal mill setup. Just a piece of 320 grit sandpaper on my granite surface plate. Just a couple rounds of figure 8s and it looks pretty good.


Valve springs should be here Tuesday, in the meantime I’m going to try to put a belt system together.

Slapped the engine back up on the frame. Hmmmm i might be able to fit one of these in here


This is apparently the easiest way to work on a sears belt system


I think this might work ok


Clutch needs to be right against the frame. Cant have bolt heads sticking out the back. Big chamfer in the hole and big chamfer on the bolt/stud. Fill in the groove with weld, grind it off flat.  


The center pivot is gonna get the same treatment, but i didnt weld it in yet, so i could figure out where i wanted the pivot hole in the frame.


Should work alright i guess. Need to pick up some 1/2” rod and bushings to make a nice pivot.


Lot further back than the typical sears clutch.


I still have plans to make the clutch so i dont have to disconnect the clutch linkage when i change the belt. We’ll see if that works out.

For the pivot i took a piece of 1” round, drilled and reamed a 5/8” hole through it, and turned back a 3/4” diameter step on it. The 3/4 step fit a 3/4” hole drilled in tne frame and the piece was secured in place with a bolt to prevent warping out of line when welded. Oh and i added a grease fitting sometime in there too.


Flanged bushings were pressed in either end of it.


I welded the pivot shaft to the clutch like i did the studs and installed it in the frame. Just put a lock collar on the other side to hold the clutch in for now.


Using one of the pulley studs to attach a heim joint for the clutch linkage. It’s simple and also gets the linkage out of the middle of the belt so I won’t have to disconnect it to change belts. (Assuming i dont have to disconnect it for other reasons i guess)


I took some 1/2” rod (same stuff i used for the clutch pivot shaft) and drilled .332” (Q) through and tapped 3/8-24 about 1” deep. Then went around and drilled 3/8” about .3” deep to slip over the original clutch linkage. This makes the linkage easier to shorten or bend before I weld the ends on. Worked great. Easier than bending up a whole new linkage out of 1/2” rod.


Here’s pretty much what the belt system wound up as. Hooked the spring on the stud next to the rod, that may change eventually. Added a flat idler on the bottom to lift the belt up some. That idler may move back, not sure yet. Need to bend up a bunch of guards for all the pulleys too.


I also wired up the kill switch, just thinking ahead. I dont think the valve springs will be here til Wednesday at the earliest. Gives me lots of time to make belt guards and a new clutch pedal i guess.

50lb valve springs got here. Still dont have a spring compressor so i did the old compress the spring in a vise and hold it with zip ties thing. Glad i bought these extra strength black ones! It was still pretty miserable.


Threw the engine back together and filled her with oil. She lit right off! Seems like a super strong runner too!


Took a risk and drove around a bit without belt guides. Managed to get away with it without dropping or shredding the belt! It definitely will not stop in neutral like it should though.

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